Mitchell Case Hits Sore Spot on Capitol Hill

Mitchell Case Hits Sore Spot on Capitol Hill

Article excerpt

GEORGE MITCHELL was a sure thing, everybody said. The Senate
majority leader was President Bill Clinton's first choice for the
Supreme Court to replace Harry Blackmun. He was interested in the
job and he was sure to sail through the confirmation process.

When it comes to predicting Supreme Court nominations, it seems
that "everybody" could be anybody. Anybody, that is, who is close
enough to the president so that his or her anonymous speculation
can be published or broadcast. Such rumors are really all that we
have to go on, because the White House steadfastly refuses to
identify its top candidates.

In this case, "everybody" was wrong.

Late Monday, Mitchell told Clinton he preferred to spend the
year working on health care and other legislative priorities.

He said he feared his work might suffer if he continued as
majority leader during Judiciary Committee hearings and the Senate
vote on whether to confirm him.

Health care and other bills are "going to require every bit of
energy and effort and concentration that I have," he said.

To be sure, other considerations may be at work here. Mitchell
is apparently a candidate for commissioner of baseball. Maybe he'd
rather be in charge of Cards vs. Cubs than Roe vs. Wade.

But nobody in the Senate questioned the notion that leading a
tough political fight on the Senate floor while facing days of
questioning by a Senate committee would be a lot to handle, even
for a popular leader like Mitchell.

That apparent conflict prompted Sen. John C. Danforth, R-Mo.,
to make an impromptu speech to his colleagues on Thursday in which
he once again bemoaned the grueling confirmation process for
nominees to the court. He praised Mitchell as someone who has
"everything that goes into a first-rate Supreme Court justice" and
whom the Senate would unanimously approve.

If even Mitchell thinks he could not do his job and be
confirmed at the same time, Danforth said, it is evidence that,
"The way we are doing this . . …